Japanese Summer Adventure 2015 - Day 0 (Journey)

Well reader, it’s that time once again – the annual trip to Japan. I suspect this may be a little more than annual. With the recent (last minute) New Year trip it’s sometimes twice a year (I’m really not going to be able to do this for much longer!).

As with previous trips, this was booked almost a year ago. It’s sometimes said that you should start planning your next holiday as soon as you get back from your last one, so this is no exception. There are some reunions that I'm looking forward to this trip: Yoshi (the teaching assistant from University in one of my previous years of study), Masami (one of the Japanese students from the University and a member of the study group), Graham (who we met in Nikko) and several of Kyle’s friends in Japan. The trip is under way, so here’s how the day has been going on:

The day started off in Manchester Airport. Okay, that’s not quite true. The day started off at home but I think I’ll skip over the details of waking up and getting washed and dressed. Believe me, a detailed description of what I'm like in the morning (both appearance and temperament) is something nobody should have to read.

Anyway, back to Manchester. The first stop on my epic journey was Helsinki. I’d travelled a few different routes by this trip and found that travelling via Helsinki was a particularly convenient option. It’s no surprise that in their advertising Finnair promote themselves as Europe’s “Gateway to Asia”. There isn't much more I can say about Manchester. The queues at Departures were much longer than last time (flying on Boxing Day has its advantages!) but the queue moved pretty quickly so this wasn't a problem. Seasoned traveller that I am, going through security was a pretty quick process. This left me with over an hour and a half before boarding so it was time to grab a cup of tea and start some writing.

The journey to Helsinki was pretty uneventful. The only noteworthy thing about that leg was that we saw the bags being unloaded before we exited the plane at Helsinki – a few of us laughed when the “bagsmashers” (baggage handlers) lived up to their name. It became a little less amusing when I recognised on of my bags being casually tossed around.

Upon my arrival to Helsinki, however, I was disappointed to find that the restaurant that I went to last year had been replaced with a Burger King. That, I did not consider to be an improvement. As luck would have it, a new place had popped up nearby (at least I think it was new, I don’t remember seeing it last year) called “Two Tigers”. Sushi and noodles were their speciality so I thought it worth a try. Besides, when in Rome… Or on the way to Rome? Anyway, after a bowl of Korean style ramen (the Korean twist being the addition of kimchi) it was almost time for boarding (layover was only 2 hours this time – Helsinki is great for fast transfers).

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For the flight to Tokyo I had received a few pleasant surprises. When making arrangements with Finnair to bring a second suitcase, I threw caution to the wind and payed the extra €50 for an “Economy Comfort” seat. This offered an extra ~5” of legroom, I remembered from last year that the legroom wasn't fantastic so an upgrade would be useful. The seat I selected was a bulkhead seat so I wouldn't have a reclining seat in front of me, the trade off being that my bag would have to be stowed in the overhead locker for take off and landing. It turned out that the bulkhead seats in Economy Comfort have an insane amount of legroom – even my toes won’t reach the bulkhead! (downside is that I needed to take off my seatbelt to get to the storage pouch – a small price to pay). Furthermore, the extras included a small amenity kit and some noise cancelling headphones in place of the regular kind. The headphones seemed to be good quality and were of an over ear design that completely covers the ears. While not 100% effective (I’m not sure if any are), they blocked out enough background noise. I never used the in flight entertainment system during the flight (had a laptop full of anime and a power socket) but found myself using the headphones to block out noise when resting. Alas, my ability to sleep in an economy class seat is limited at best but this was a pretty comfortable journey.

Now that's what I call legroom!

After arriving in Tokyo, it was time for the holiday to begin!

Japanese New Year Trip 2014 - Day 5 (Nagareyama)

By this point the year of 2014 was almost over, we had reached New Year’s Eve. I had been looking forward to this day in particular as this involved the first visit of the new year to a shrine/temple. Of course, before the bringing in the new year we did still have an entire day left of the previous year.
There had been much discussion and debate regarding exactly what we were going to do during the day and the evening. Initially we had intended to visit the Meiji Jingu to see in the New Year. In the end we decided that this wouldn't be a very good idea. There would have been no way to get back to Saitama until the morning and all the hotels in the area would be either fully booked or charging extortionate prices. This left sleeping in McDonalds as the only available option, I can’t say I found that to be a particularly appealing option.
Another option available to us was Minami Nagareyama. Kyle’s former colleague Sato Sensei suggested that we try the temple in her city (Minami Nagareyama), Kyle hadn't been to that temple before and Nagareyama is walkable from Misato. Because there was still time to decide exactly what to do in the evening we decided to go to Omiya for the day and make a decision about the evening later.
Of course, before going to Omiya there was a very important matter to attend to. To borrow the old Japanese proverb “Never go in to battle on an empty stomach”, we needed to grab a late breakfast/early lunch. LaLaPort was to be our venue, Ryan had never been to the food court in LaLaPort (Misato Kitchen) and with time running out this would be one of the last opportunities this trip.
I won’t go in to detail about Misato Kitchen, I've written about it before.
With our stomachs filled, it was time for battle (okay, not quite a battle although the crowded trains
can seem like a battlefield at times).
Parts of Omiya have something of a… reputation for certain… “Services” if you know what I mean.
The thing that seems a little odd is that these establishments share the same general area as many
of Omiya’s restaurants. So if you’re exploring Omiya try not to be shocked if you stumble across such
establishments when looking for food. Poor Ryan got the shock of his life upon seeing the “Omiya
Girls Academy”.

I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that's no educational institution

Given that we had already eaten and had no interest in frequenting the seedier side of Omiya we had no reason to stay in that area so we moved on to the shrine visit.
As always, we managed to get a little lost when navigating our way to the shrine. Leading up to the shrine there is a long, wooded, path. While this can be bypassed, I recommend walking along it as
it’s a nice walk and if you’re visiting in summer it provides a nice little bit of shade. The difficulty in locating it is that we needed to traverse a small residential area. It’s pretty much a matter of much whether you find the side road you need of a cul-de-sac.
Upon arriving at the shrine we found that most of the food stalls had already been set up but there were still a lot of preparations being made. Besides stalls offering Daruma and other assorted trinkets there are also stalls offering a wide variety of snacks including ones which are only available at new year.
Kyle, with his almost inhuman appetite, sampled as many different foods as possible. I, on the other hand, was still largely full from the fried noodles (I can’t remember off the top of my head whether it was Yaki Soba or Yaki Udon) so I was a little more limited in what I could try.

Chocolate covered banana - and no, that's not a euphemism!

One of the foods I did try was a rather unusual New Year speciality – chocolate covered banana. I admit, it sounds like a crazy combination that really shouldn't work but it actually works pretty well. The stall selling them had a fun system for ordering, the vendor challenges you to rock paper scissors. If you lose then the price you pay will get you 1 banana. If you win then the price gets you two bananas. Kyle lost the game so he bought one for himself. I was fortunate and won so I gave a banana to Ryan (that sounded better in my head!).
Beyond that I sampled a little bit of some Yakiniku that Kyle bought and tried some Taiyaki. Ryan opted to sample some Tako (octopus) on a stick. You see these a lot in anime. By this point we had reached decision time. One option available to us was to stay in Omiya and bring in the new year at the shrine there. We would still be able to make it back to Saitama in time (just about) and the shrine would be busy but not as busy as Meiji. I wasn't looking forward to the crowded trains on the way back so we opted for the temple in Minami Nagareyama.
Kyle phoned Sato Sensei to confirm a time to meet, we then found that there was a twist to the plan. Besides going to the temple with her she had also invited us to her home for some Osechi Ryouri (New Year food). Bearing this in mind, we stopped off on the way back to buy a gift (it is tradition in Japan that you bring someone a gift if they invite you to their home) and some local sake to bring with us.
From Misato, Nagareyama is just across the river which forms part of the boundary between Saitama Ken (prefecture) and Chiba Ken. By crossing the bridge, your city tax increases by 30%. Nagareyama is a nice city but Misato is comfortable and not particularly expensive.

While waiting for midnight we enjoyed beer, sake and osechi ryori while chatting and watching the New Years Eve programming on NHK. Think of it as being a little bit like the New Year programme in the UK with Jools Holland. That’s probably the closest thing I can think of. There’s a contest between various singers and music groups (AKB48 win every year, so there’s no accounting for taste) and various interviews and light entertainment.
As we entered the year of the sheep it was time to go to the temple. Even though it’s a small, local, temple it was still very busy.

One slight error in judgement was picking up some more sake to drink at Kyle’s. A gentleman whom Ryan and I got talking to at the 7-11 recommended a particular bottle from his home prefecture of Akita. Although nice, it was also rather potent. Given that Ryan and I managed to finish off the entire bottle between the two of us… it’s hangover time!

Start of Vacation (Sorry - Holiday)

Just a quick status update.  This post is brought to you from the departure lounge of Manchester airport.  Having woken up at silly O'Clock in the morning, I'm starting my trip to Japan.  Whike out there, I'm going to be staying with my good friend Kyle and later visiting Setoguchi San.  It's a little early for long writing and I'm currently typing on my phone so I'll post a little more once I hop on to WiFi hotspot in Frankfurt.

Tired...